Egypt releases gas worker arrested after striking over wages

An Egyptian court has released a worker on bail from a state-owned energy company who was arrested after taking part in a three-week strike.

Yasser Sayyid Abu al-Saud is an employee at Egypt Gas, a subsidiary of the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company.

Saud was arrested at his home on 27 April, according to local opposition news site, Revolutionary Socialism, and was charged with “belonging to a restricted organisation”.

His arrest came on the back of a long and acrimonious industrial dispute with the management of his employers, Egypt Gas.

Sit-ins were held outside the gates of the company’s headquarters in Giza, just north of the capital Cairo, throughout a three-week-long strike that began in early April.

Workers said they were protesting after the company announced plans to cut their annual wages by 20 percent.

The strike led to the closure of many of the company’s offices, and management said it had caused the firm “grave” profit losses.

Egypt Gas share prices fell during the strike to a year-low at 35 Egyptian pounds ($4.59) a share, compared with a high of 63.5 pounds ($8.33).

During the dispute, Egypt Gas headquarters were attacked on 26 April by striking workers who entered the building and attempted to reach the offices of Mohammed Ibrahim, according to a company statement.

Saud will be now be subject to bail conditions, after relatives paid a 500 pound ($65.60) bond to secure his release.

The Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), an independent local NGO funded by international groups like Oxfam, has denounced the charges levelled against Saud as “fabricated and politically motivated”.

At a press conference held to mark Workers’ Month, celebrated in Egypt during the month following Labour Day on 1 May, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information documented numerous cases in which firms had “fabricated accusations” against strike leaders.

The rights group, which works across the Middle East, also found that there are now 434 journalists with a wide range of Egyptian newspapers who have been arbitrarily dismissed from their positions since the beginning of 2015.